by Michelle Alten –  Photographs by Wolfgang Kaehler

Grey whales

At Magdalena Bay, a shack once stood at the water’s edge.  Now a freshly-painted ticket office and bright turquoise pangas await visitors who come to see the grey whales and their calves.  While it no longer feels like a remote, natural cetacean birthing center, there is a positive—the drivers seem to follow protective guidelines much better than they did in the past.  Our driver respectfully approaches a cow and calf, keeps a distance, and waits to see if the whales approach.  Our reward is the sight of calves poking their heads in the air like curious children peering from a swimming pool.  They peek at us, then roll and frolic alongside their mothers.  At the end of the day, another passenger tells me that her driver chased the whales—I am discouraged since this was my concern when we were here many years ago.